You're Not Useless
by Aiden Short
Summary: Remus feels useless. Sirius wants to help him


Useless, hopeless, worthless, that's all he was, he knew that. That's what he'd been told everyday of his life.

By his father, _useless little monster, killed your mother_

By his relatives, _hopeless little child, he'll never get anywhere in life._

By his peers, _worthless little fag, not worth shit._

He should just kill himself, but he couldn't. He was a coward too.

Remus Lupin hurried to his locker with his books clutched tightly to his chest. He looked at the ground, trying to blend into his surroundings, hoping desperately that no one would bother him. Unfortunately, that's not how the universe works.

"Hey Fag!"

Remus looked up, shaking a bit in fear. Two boys walked down the school hallway in his direction. The one who had spoken was named Bryce; captain of the football team and Remus' main tormentor. He was tall, broad, and muscular, much bigger than Remus' small frame. He had a crew cut, pockmarked skin, mean little eyes, and a vicious scowl that revealed an under bite. You could say he looked like a grumpy bulldog, but it's not recommended. Not unless you've got a death wish. The other boy was also tall, but much thinner than his stocky friend. He had chocolate curls that gracefully swept across his forehead, flawlessly smooth milky white skin, eyes that were gorgeously blue, yet icy cold, and a perfect smile that never reached his eyes; Ashton, the school heartthrob, and the mastermind behind all the evil things that happened to Remus, at least, the things that happened in school.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite little nerd, Remus Lupin!" Ashton greeted Remus pleasantly as if they were lifelong friends, but with a menacing undertone. "Did you finish our math homework like you were supposed to? I wouldn't want to have Bryce here punish you."

Remus looked to the ground, mumbling quietly. He didn't finish their homework. He'd barely been able to finish his own before his father beat him and told him to clean the whole house. He'd been up tying to finish his chores well into the early hours of the morning. Now he wished he'd done theirs first.

"Come, come now Remus. You'll have to speak up." Ashton leaned down towards Remus, cupping his ear mockingly.

"No," Remus swallowed nervously.

"Oh, what a shame," Ashton straightened up shaking his head, voice full of false sympathy. "Bryce?"

Suddenly, Remus' back was slammed into the lockers causing his books to be scattered everywhere. Bryce gripped his shoulders tightly and roughly banged Remus into the lockers a few more times, punching him in the stomach for good measures. Remus fell to the floor, clutching his stomach and wincing in pain.

Ashton stooped down and sorted through Remus' fallen books until came across a sheet of finished math problems. Smiling evilly, he stood up, paper in hand, and began to walk away without sparing the poor little Lupin boy another glance. "I hope you don't mind, we're taking yours," He said with a chuckle. "Come Bryce, to the photocopier."

Remus curled up on himself and cried, feeling completely alone in the world. Little did he know that he was being watched from afar by a pair of warm gray eyes.

* * *

Sirius Black never took anything seriously, as ironic as that sounds. He just had fun and did whatever pleased himself. So what if that meant he got in trouble on an hourly basis, he just didn't see why everyone had to be so somber about everything. By everyone, he usually meant his parents, but there were plenty of other people who could a little more humor in their life.

Sirius was a court jester, a class clown, a practical joker, whichever term you prefer. He and his best friend, James Potter, were the school's infamous troublemaking pair. Though Sirius was more of the quiet, laid back one, they were equally disruptive and obnoxious, therefore receiving an equal number of detentions, often bringing down their tubby little friend, Peter Pettigrew, with them.

But for some reason, as Sirius watched what happened to Remus on that morning, he actually felt serious. He'd been watching the Lupin kid be bullied for a while now, and every time it made his blood boil! How anyone would want to hurt such a sweet boy, he didn't know. Sirius wanted to help Remus, make all his troubles go away, but he didn't know how. He couldn't ask James, he wouldn't understand, and to even think of asking Peter was absurd! The boy could barely tie his own shoes, much less give advice.

Not that either of Sirius' friends had ever even noticed what happened to Remus. James was too busy playing with his stolen soccer ball, trying to impress Lily Evens, a pretty redheaded girl who, in Sirius' opinion, he had absolutely no chance with. And Peter was just plain clueless. Sirius felt like he was the only one who noticed poor Remus' situation, much less cared.

As he watched Remus curl up into a ball once his assailants finally left him, Sirius felt his heart ache with sadness. He didn't know why he felt like this, but he knew he needed to do something to help this beautiful boy who made his stomach flutter with a million butterflies and danced around his thoughts day and night. He just had to, but what?

* * *

"Alright class, open you textbooks to page 179 and start reading it through on your own. I will be coming around to collect your math homework, so have it out and ready for me."

Sirius opened up his math textbook to a random page and leaned back in his chair. There was no way he was going to read through the instructions, math was way too boring. Besides, he could just have James' dad explain it to him later in simpler terms. Mr. Potter was great at explaining math.

The teacher, Mr. Shiny as James liked to call him, began making his way down the aisle on the opposite side of the room from Sirius. The reason behind the peculiar name was that their teacher had a shiny, bald head. Also James was very unoriginal. Sirius went along with the stupid name because he couldn't come up with a better one, and he never bothered to learn what their teacher's real name was in the first place.

"Mr. Lupin, where, may I ask, is your homework?"

Remus hid behind his long feathery, tawny-colored hair. His large amber eyes full of fear and his hands twisted nervously in his lap. As he answered, is soft voice shook a little. "I don't have it Sir."

Everyone in the class burst out laughing except Sirius. He had a very good sense of humor, but he just didn't see what was so funny about this. Poor Remus looked mortified.

"I'm very disappointed in you Remus. I expected more of you." Mr. Shiny said sincerely. Remus looked down at his lap, whispering an apology. There were a few more giggles around the room and Mr. Shiny snapped for them to be quiet.

Everyone turned back to their work, but Sirius continued to watch Remus. He thought he saw a tear fall through his curtain hair and Sirius wanted to jump up and kill everyone in the room for making such a wonderful person feel this way. Remus didn't deserve this! He deserved to be treasured!

Suddenly a thought came to Sirius, a way for him to help. He didn't particularly like it, but it had to be done.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this dude? People might think you're crazy."

Sirius nodded, looking at the plaque across the door he stood in front of: Student Councilor. Only weirdoes had to go in there, but this was Sirius' only hope of finding out what to do. He looked at James, who was glancing around nervously, despite the fact they were the only ones left in the school. He kept running his hands through his wild jet-black locks and pushing his glasses back up his nose. Thankfully Peter wasn't there, seeing as he had to be home directly after school, or it would have been ten times worse.

Taking a deep breath, Sirius opened the door and entered the room, prepared for the worst. The office however, was rather pleasant, and so was the man sitting behind a desk opposite the door. He had with long grey hair, a crooked nose, and light-blue eyes that seemed to see into your soul. He smiled kindly at Sirius and waved him closer. "Come in, come in, Mr. Black. Have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

His voice was warm and friendly and Sirius found himself instantly liking him. Sirius shook his head to decline the offered beverage and took a seat in the comfortable chair across the desk from the old man.

"So Mr. Black, my name is Professor Dumbledore. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Sirius swallowed carefully before launching into his story. "So there's this guy, really sweet, caring, and shy. A lot of people pick on him because he's different, because he's gay. And it seems like no one really cares that he's being hurt so much and I really care about him and I want to help him. Because he's just so amazing and beautiful and special and he needs to know that, I just don't know what to do."

Professor Dumbledore sat back in his chair, looking thoughtful. He was silent for the longest time, just studying Sirius, who squirmed a bit under Dumbledore's intense gaze. "Mr. Black, do you like this boy, as in, _like_ like him?"

Like Remus? What was the old man talking about? And then Sirius had an epiphany. "Yes," he breathed out, shocked at himself. "I do like him. I just want to scoop him up and protect him from the world. I want to kiss him and tell him how special he is, how meaningful he is. But I'm not supposed to. We're both boys for crying out loud! This just defies all logic and reason!"

"The heart has reasons that reason does not understand," Dumbledore replied wisely. "I suggest you forget reason, and listen to your heart."

Sirius looked down at his lap, unconfident for the first time in his life. "But, what if no one accepts me?"

Dumbledore smiled knowingly at Sirius. "Mr. Black, I assure you, those who are truly worth your time will love and accept you no matter what. Now go on and do what you know in your heart is right."

Sirius left the office in a daze. James followed him as they walked down the hall, not speaking to him. He knew Sirius was trying to process a lot of information and was comfortable to walk in silence. They turned a corner on their way out of the school and come across Remus backed into a corner by Ashton, Bryce, and a few more of their thugs. Bryce punched Remus in the stomach, causing him to double over, and then kicked him in the shins. Remus fell to the ground and whimpered.

This was the opportunity for Sirius to prove himself. He knew what the right thing to do was. He glanced at James before stepping forward, fists clenched and standing tall. "Leave him alone!"

Everyone stared at him, completely shocked into silence. Sirius started to feel nervousness swell up in his stomach, but he pushed it away, remaining completely confident in himself.

Finally Ashton was able to recompose himself and broke the silence. "Why do you care what happens to this useless little faggot? Do you like him or something?"

"Yes, I do."

There was another moment of silence, everyone clearly not expecting that answer. Finally James stepped forward. "Yeah, so you guys better leave the kid alone, or else."

Sirius looked at him gratefully, and then turned his attention back to the bullies. Ashton glared at them and Bryce cracked his knuckles menacingly. The tension was almost unbearable as each party waited for the other to make the first move. Remus watched nervously from the floor, unsure of why anyone would want to help him.

"Fine," Ashton snapped suddenly. "Come along boys. We'll deal with this later."

They all trudged off and Sirius ran over to Remus. "Are you okay?"

Remus nodded slowly, sitting and looking up at Sirius. "Why did you help me?"

Sirius shrugged and took Remus' hands in his, smiling at him. "Because."

"But I'm useless."

"You're not useless. You're wonderful!"

* * *

**Quick disclaimer! I passed off a quote Dumbledore says as my own. This one: "The heart has reasons that reason does not understand." It's by Jaques Benigne Bossuel.**


End file.
